1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical data communication system and a printer which receives printing data through the optical data communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been developed small portable printers for personal computers. The portable printer is not installed at a specific place but is put on a user's desk or the like when it is used. Printing data is sent to the portable printer from a personal computer or a portable data communication device through a data transmission means such as an interface or a cable which connects the printer and the personal computer.
Recently, infrared data transmission means using no cables have been proposed. In the infrared data communications system, the data transmitter and the data receiver are provided with light emitting elements and light receiving elements that transmit and receive printing data in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol, respectively.
However, the conventional data communication means are not provided with a display which indicates the communication state. Consequently, even if the printing operation is not correctly completed, a user cannot be informed of such an incomplete printing operation.